IN HER native Vietnam, writer Huong Keenleyside is something of a celebrity.

She is invited to parties with the President, photographed at book-signings and regularly asked by the national press to give her perspective on current affairs.

Her hectic life in Hanoi is in sharp contrast to the rather more peaceful pace of life she has enjoyed since moving with her husband, Tom, to a small house in the suburbs of York.

The couple met in the lobby of a hotel where Huong was having a meeting.

They went out that evening - and have been together ever since, moving to the UK in 1998 shortly after they were married.

Now 36, Huong has a son and daughter with her first husband, who died soon after her daughter was born.

Her life in the UK has been comparatively quiet. But all that could be about to change with the recent English translation and release of her novel, For The Love Of Vietnam.

Based on the real-life experiences of her uncle during the Vietnam war, this gripping thriller tells the story of Agent Ngoc Lan, a spy from the north who infiltrates southern Vietnamese high society by assuming the identity of a policeman.

To gain social status and access to insider information, agent Ngoc Lan marries Nicole Philippe, the beautiful daughter of a French landowner.

Never forgetting his first wife in North Vietnam, he struggles with his increasing feelings for his new wife and family.

When the novel was first released in Vietnam, it received an overwhelming response. Police visited the headquarters of a Hanoi newspaper to try and prevent them from reviewing the book, Huong says.

However, the journalist asked the police to read the book and in response the Vietnamese army ordered thousands of copies for their officer colleges.

For The Love Of Vietnam offers a rare perspective into the simple lives of the Vietnamese, in contrast with the impact of American capitalism, and the story details the dedication with which many Vietnamese opposed American involvement in their country.

The bedtime stories told to her by her uncle inspired Huong to write his story and, as a result, she has dedicated the novel to the Vietnamese who lived under the carpet-bombing of the war.

Huong said: "This is an old, classic book about the war. Three million Vietnamese were killed in the war and people just did not understand why the Americans hurt us in that way.

"Our view of the war is very different to what Americans see and that is why I needed to write this book. American books are about how much the Americans lost, but I talk about how much we lost.

"Even after all the bombing, the Vietnamese did not receive a penny after the war."

Huong's uncle is still alive today, although his is not the traditionally happy story of a surviving war hero returning home.

After returning from Saigon to his village in the north, he was reunited with his first wife, Nhat.

However, Ngoc Lan did not receive a war pension; he became extremely poor and the Agent Orange poisoning that he suffered on the Ho Chi Minh trail saw both their children die of leukaemia.

These days, 71 year-old Ngoc Lan works on his lychee farm in the northern provinces of Vietnam. However, he is still anxious to trace his former wife, Nicole Philippe, and their two children who disappeared after the fall of Saigon.

His first wife, Nhat, has supported him in his search for information.

Although she only found out about the existence of her husband's French wife relatively recently, she believes that Nicole helped her husband survive the war and has said that she would think of her as a sister.

However, Huong said that the whereabouts of the Philippe family has remained a mystery: "We believe it may be that they have been killed, but we still don't know what happened. We hope that we might hear something and they get in touch. We are still hoping."

For The Love Of Vietnam, by Huong Keenleyside is published by Janus, priced £9.95